A reader asks, “Dr. Dixie, if God really loves us, why so much evil and suffering in the world? Suffering seems so pointless. Why doesn’t God stop it?”
We’ve all heard statements like “God can do anything He wants. If He doesn’t stop this or change it, it must be “His will”.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “argument from false cause”? This assumes that because two things happened, the first one caused the second. For example, “Before women got to vote, there were no nuclear weapons” insinuates that women’s voting was the cause of nuclear weapons. Or “Every time we turn the street lights on, the sun goes down” assumes that streetlights cause the sunset. Foolish, isn’t it? Sequence is not causation. To assume that evil exists because God didn’t stop it is an argument from a false cause.
If we try to find answers or measure God’s goodness by assessing our circumstances, confusion and doubt will always result. Starting from a false premise always leads to a wrong conclusion.
The correct starting place is that God is perfectly good. There is no evil or darkness in Him. James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above; coming down from the Father Who gives light. In His shining there is no rising, setting or shadow cast by His turning.”
Sin is the cause of all suffering. Sometimes it’s individual wrong choices: unfaithfulness, murder, drunk driving, greed or gossip; but the underlying cause of all suffering is First Adam’s choosing in Eden to listen to The Lie of the satan instead of The Truth of God..
The Bible repeatedly states that God’s unrelenting love brought Jesus to earth to redeem us from sin. However, there’s no guarantee that receiving salvation eliminates all earthly struggle and pain. The difference between the suffering of God’s children and that of unbelievers is that God’s children have constant access to God’s amazing power. Unbelievers bear suffering in their own limited strength.
Only all-knowing God is able to determine suffering’s ultimate value. To accurately label any suffering as “pointless”, we would have to be able to see clearly that it has no current, future or eternal purpose whatsoever. But because our perspective is so limited, we cannot accurately make that assessment. Not only do we see only a tiny piece of the “puzzle”, unless we seek God’s perspective, the little we do see is distorted.
Growing older is inevitable, but when God’s people are overall, just as “sick and tired” physically and emotionally as the unbelieving world, it indicates there’s a problem in how we think about living life. God told the Israelites, “If you eat, think, worship, rest and cleanse yourselves the way I tell you to, none of the diseases that plague the Egyptians will come upon you.” They continually rebelled, and their disobedience destroyed them.
Because we are Jesus’ earthly Body, we have resources to enjoy a significantly different quality of life than the unsaved world. Placing thoughts and emotions under the Lordship of Jesus also changes us physically.
In the midst of suffering, God still heals! Even today, tumors disappear, blind eyes see, deaf ears hear and crippled people walk. Sometimes it’s medically unexplainable. Many times God graciously works through a doctor’s skilled hands. Healing often comes through a changed mind as well as diet and lifestyle changes.
The Bible is clear that because of First Adam’s sin, suffering cannot be fully eliminated until the coming of Jesus and the new Heaven and Earth. But as we choose to trust God’s infinite goodness, making obedient lifestyle choices, we’re more able to set aside the “whys” that may never be fully answered here, and spend more time thanking Him for His received and promised provision.
Biblical Guidance ministry offers life-changing teaching about the relentless goodness of God. Call 580-774-2884 for more information or to schedule your personal appointment.
